Essays in international trade and development

This dissertation investigates the effects of trade liberalization on welfare, poverty and productivity. I especially focus on the effects of the Indian trade liberalization that took place in 1991 and investigate how this substantial trade reform affected poverty, welfare and productivity in India.; The first chapter of my dissertation empirically investigates the distributional effects of the Indian trade liberalization using household level survey data in a general equilibrium framework. I use a theoretical framework that traces two important channels through which trade reforms affect household welfare: the consumption channel and the labor income channel.; Building on the same research question, the second chapter of my dissertation empirically investigates the effect of trade liberalization on poverty reduction in India. This chapter is co-authored with Devashish Mitra and Rana Hasan. In this chapter, we investigate the role of domestic market regulations in the relationship between trade liberalization and poverty.; In the third chapter, we look at the impact of trade liberalization on productivity in Indian manufacturing industries. This chapter is co-authored with Devashish Mitra. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...